Seattle, WA, USA – June 8, 2011
The Friends of Amanda Knox have written to
President Barack Obama expressing their concern about the failure of consular
officials to protect the rights of American citizen, Amanda Knox, convicted in
Perugia, Italy, of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
The letter sent to Obama on May 16,
2011 indicates seven areas in which Italian or EU law was violated by
prosecutors and police in Perugia, Italy. Yet, the letter cites repeated
assertions by State Department spokespersons that it was their obligation to
safeguard those same rights. It was sent by Michael Heavey, a superior
court judge acting in a personal capacity only, and cosigned by Thomas
Wright, founder of Friends of Amanda, Dr. Mark C. Waterbury, author of The Monster of Perugia – The Framing of
Amanda Knox, and attorney Anne Bremner, spokesperson of Friends of Amanda.
A pdf file of the letter can be downloaded here: http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/ConsularFailureKnox.pdf.
The letter calls for an investigation of the
failure of the U.S. Consulate offices in Italy to take actions in support of
Amanda Knox. That letter was copied to, and followed up with, a second letter
dated May 20, 2011 and sent to more than 500 members of congress, and to
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This action comes only a few weeks after a
letter written by the Committee to Protect Journalists to the President of
Italy protesting actions of the same Perugian prosecutor regarding the
treatment of reporters covering the case. The CPJ article and a link to the
letter can be found at http://www.cpj.org/2011/05/italian-prosecutor-files-defamation-lawsuit-shutte.php. The CPJ investigation revealed that Perugian prosecutors and
police used threats, criminal charges, and physical beatings to intimidate
reporters covering the case. The prosecutor in the case recently obtained a
court order forcing Google to take down a blog written by a critical local
journalist.
Similar concerns were subsequently expressed
by eleven prominent Italian lawmakers who signed a petition to the Italian
Minster of Justice reaffirming that Knox was treated unfairly under Italian law
(see AP article at http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=13691934). The group sent a letter to the President of Italy asking for
his intervention. They have taken the extremely serious step of asking for the Italian
Ministry of Justice to send inspectors to Perugia to investigate.
The letter to President Obama touches on many
of the same points that have been raised by legal and forensic experts,
former FBI agent Steve Moore, and others who have looked at the way the trial was conducted
and been deeply disturbed at what they found. Prominent criminologist Paul
Ciolino, who investigated the case for CBS news, called the conviction of
Amanda Knox “the railroad job from hell.”
These voices, both in Italy the United
States, and elsewhere form a mounting chorus of concern that Amanda Knox's
human rights and rights under Italian law have been violated by a justice
system in Perugia, Italy that is out of control. Why hasn't the State
Department taken action to safeguard the rights of this innocent American
citizen?
CONTACTS:
Michael Heavey – sen34@comcast.net
Thomas Wright – tomonmercer@yahoo.com
Anne Bremner – abremner@staffordfrey.com
Mark Waterbury – waterbury.mark@gmail.com
